Monthly Archives: March 2011

a tough job…

11 Friday Mar 2011

Posted by in food & drink, restaurants, sevilla, work

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Last Monday I was invited to the opening of Maccheroni & Co – the sister restaurant of L’Oca Giuliva, which is my favourite Italian place and just across the street from where I used to live. I’ll never forget how owner and friend Frabrizia (Bizzy) kept me well-stocked in gourmet pizzas while I was on chemo. One of the few foods I could keep down on bad days.

I haven’t been around my old neighbourhood much since I moved, mostly due to the sprained ankle, and so I was keen to see what Bizzy & Franco had done with their new location. Well, I had a great time at the opening, though it was pretty packed out and obviously not the time to check out the food, so Bizzy told me to come back for a meal, which I did today. Just a nice light lunch – Nog and I shared a salad and then a pasta dish – but it was very satisfying, as well as on the house! And tomorrow I’ll write it up with photos on Sevilla Tapas. Bizzy also said I have to have lunch with her next week at their third location in Triana. Well, you know, somebody has to do it…

graffiti

10 Thursday Mar 2011

Posted by in art, culture, wtf?

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What do you think of graffiti?

In general it just looks like vandalism to me. Okay, every once in a blue moon you get a Haring, Basquiat or Banksy, but you know… hardly ever. Mostly it’s crappy blobby spray-painted messes that only serve to make neighbourhoods look shabby.

I guess when a building is abandoned, like the one in the before & after pics on the left, and its windows have already been covered over with layers of tacky posters, it’s not any worse to have a couple of guys from a local gallery come and paint that over with their website logo. But many shop and restaurant owners would have to repaint their properties on a weekly basis just to have clean walls for a day or two.

So I was surprised to come across Alexandra Del Bene the other day while on my way home from a walk around the Alameda. She was busy with spray cans and paint brushes painting the window protectors of the Santa Marta Bar (home of Sevilla’s largest flamenquín!), but it looked to me as if she were doing a job and not just a hit and run burst of “artistic expression”, so I stopped and asked if she’d been commissioned to paint the Santa Marta. Turns out that a lot of people have been commissioning her to paint their storefronts so that they won’t get vandalised by roving so-called “graffiti artists”, who curiously don’t vandalise Alexandra’s stuff. I guess it’s a sort of professional courtesy?

Alexandra showed me her business cards, which are decorated with pics of her various projects, and it turned out that one – a candy store – was just around the corner, so I also got a snap of that one. Anyhow, we had a nice long chat and it struck me how much more interesting life is when you stop and talk to people instead of just walking by.

getting there…

09 Wednesday Mar 2011

Posted by in change, home

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Spent most of today organising the extra room, which Jessica will be moving into next month. Since moving in it’s been the “storage room” and I honestly had no idea where I was going to be able to shift everything that was in there. It helped to throw a whole whack of stuff away…

Getting the new casa az set up is sure taking time. The first and most important room to get functioning was the kitchen and then my bedroom, which finally started feeling cosy once I got the curtains up. There isn’t much space to move around The Bed, but at least it fits in there with the headboard and it’s a stroke of luck that I have sliding closet doors.

I’m still using the moroccan rug in the livingroom as Loki has mostly lost interest in it. Funny how that one splash of colour cheers up the whole room. And my fabulous “flamenco” shower curtain helps make the best of the way too small bathroom.

Also got hallway bookcases assembled and the upstairs room is slowly coming together – photos to follow. It’s reckon it’s going to take quite awhile before I’m ready to do a new casa az video, especially as the terrace needs a lot of work. But I’m loving it. There are always projects on the go and the cats adore all the extra space.

Who’d have thought that getting kicked out of my old place would have ended up being such a blessing?

Can’t wait for summer barbeques on the rooftop…

back to the gym… again!

08 Tuesday Mar 2011

Posted by in cancer, change, diet & nutrition, health & happiness

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Progress has been slow with my esguince, quite possibly because I missed the “crucial 48 hour period” during which I should have put it up and iced it constantly. Instead I not only finished a four-hour tapas tour immediately after spraining my ankle, but I didn’t get around to getting anything cold on it (in this case, a bag of frozen peas) until some time the following day. And of course I kept hobbling around on it because I’d just moved into my new place and there was so much to be done. So I was on crutches for at least two weeks afterwards, then graduated to one crutch. This was mostly because of all the cobbled streets here – I was getting around the house okay-ish without crutches but needed that extra security when out on the wobbly cobbles.

As walking on my own became easier and the pain in my ankle subsided (though it still hasn’t gone away completely) I decided last week that I would go back to the gym the following Monday. Then on Friday, whilst in a fit of organising stuff, I found my bathroom scale and, well, put it in the bathroom. But curiosity got the better of me and I weighed myself for the first time in about a month… and I almost died on the spot when it said I’d PUT ON 10 KILOS!! How was it possible? I mean okay, I was feeling extra flabby and gross from inactivity, but I hadn’t been eating more – though I had stopped going to the gym!  So I tested the scale later that evening by having Nog weigh himself when he got home from a class – and it showed his usual weight. I was devastated and the very next day I dragged my EXTRA FAT butt to the gym. Clearly this couldn’t wait until Monday. And catching glimpses of myself in The Wall Mirrors I was so upset at how EXTRA FAT I was, but was also determined to just take it a day at a time and make some serious diet changes.

Same thing Monday morning… went to the gym, did my workout and then came home to shower. After which I dared to get back on the scales thinking a weekend of careful eating might have made a kilo or so difference. And I was ten kilos less! Or rather, the same weight I’ve been for ages. I immediately called Nog over and had him weigh himself again and yep, he was his usual weight. So – phew! I can only guess that after the scale being upside down and knocked around during the move it wasn’t at its best when I first tried it out (Nog had tried it several hours later). Well, what a relief! And what the heck, got me back into my gym routine a couple of days sooner.

When I had my last appointment with my oncologist Dr Ana she gently suggested that now it seems I’ve got the worst of what I’ve been through behind me (for now) that I should probably think about losing some weight. She asked if I needed her to give me a diet, which I didn’t because I do know what to eat in order to lose weight. And I told her next time she saw me (June) I’d be 20 kilos lighter! Dr Ana just shook her head and said she’d be happy to see me at 8 kilos less.  A goal I am quite sure I can accomplish. One day at a time…